The Ship of Stalemate Turning?
Can it be so? The remission of hateful resolve? Merely expunge from one's public platform a word here, a phrase there, and voila! one is transformed, completely made over, become reasonable and a potential reliable partner for the future. As simple as that! Amazing, what human beings can construct to divide one another, then turn around swiftly to disarm the resulting state of anarchic aggression.Yet there it is, in black and white, and if it's publicly stated, and then published, where is the cynic to turn? Yes, another historic 'olive branch', and would that it could be implemented fully and realized completely. Better an optimist than a pessimist. Why could it not happen, after all, that the Palestinian Authority under its new Prime Minister Salaam Fayad, said to be a good and reasonable man, now turn its direction in the pursuit of a lasting peace?
They will now, it would seem, expunge the inflammatory language of their persecuted and revengeful past. Disavow the words "resistance" and "armed struggle". Turn the cumbersome beast of hatred around, in other words, to bask in the gentle swell of possibilities. As a government-issued edict this sounds very good.
Dig a little deeper and there's a bit of a puzzle. How does one now disarm the bitter disaffection and violent anger of a population groomed carefully to view its neighbour as its enemy? Good luck on that one. And hope that there are sufficient people of good will and open minds to accept this new direction their government has veered onto.
The fact is, while a greater number of Israelis have finally succumbed to the realization that Palestinians deserve and need their own autonomous state, a reversely-growing number of Palestinians - men and women, young and old, appear to be equally ideologically committed to the efficacy of suicide bombing to enable them to reach their goals of statehood.
Ehud Olmert, after all, came to office with the promise to build on his mentor's initiative to pull Israeli settlers first out of Gaza, then the West Bank. In the wake of the Gaza pull-out and the catastrophic brain death of Mr. Sharon, Mr. Olmert came to office with the intention of beginning the long-considered West Bank pull-out.
Internal doubts and Israeli citizens' insecurity about this needed manoeuvre were confirmed as a result of the steeply rising violence executed by members of Hamas jihadist militias, and those of Fatah-affiliated militias all equally devoted to Israel's destruction...such as Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. The growing violence and chaos within Gaza did nothing to reassure Israel it had done the right thing in abandoning Gaza.
Now they're embarked on a new adventure, one they hope will champion finally the cause of peace bilaterally. The PA's Salaam Fayad requires any peace agreement with Israel to begin with withdrawal to the pre-6-day-war borders. And that Jerusalem should find recognition as the capital both of Israel and the nascent Palestinian state. Within those requirements there are wide areas of discussion and possible compromise.
Israelis are nothing if not realistic. A history of grappling with mind-numbing adversity has inured her to difficulties thrown in her path, and has encouraged pragmatism as a life-enhancing device. "We should not insist on keeping territories when their continued occupation threatens our national existence and harms our position in the world", stated Israeli deputy prime minister, Haim Ramon.
The very soul of rationality, of looking directly at reality, at facing one's international and national obligations. But beyond talk and grave assurances of readiness for serious debate leading to concrete solutions, will the PA now actually move beyond its traditional adversarial role? Peace talks that promised to resolve the seemingly irresolvable were brought to an abrupt halt in 2000 on the second intifada, after all.
But then, nothing is quite so guaranteed to move people beyond stubborn stupidity toward practicality as when one's position is called into question through a defeat such as that suffered by Fatah at the hands of Hamas. When 40,000 Fatah supporters were expeditiously routed by 5,000 Hamas members to take control of Gaza. All of a sudden concentration on the matter at hand became an imperative.
Fatah isn't out of the woods yet. There's still the impending election to give legitimacy to Fatah as the sole representative of the Palestinian people. And given the manner in which the Palestinian public, and its most vulnerable, have been manipulated and deceived in the past, and their disgust with Fatah's corrupt rule, there are no guarantees they will have the undivided support of the voters.
And then what? Back to square one? What IS square one, anyway?
Labels: Middle East, Political Realities
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, July 28, 2007
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